


How Pumpkin Carving and Twins Lead to Practice

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M, Holidays, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-20
Updated: 2009-12-20
Packaged: 2019-05-30 17:30:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15101576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Josh and Donna spend the day before Halloween carving pumpkins and babysitting.





	How Pumpkin Carving and Twins Lead to Practice

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

  
Author's notes: This is pure fluff with no spoilers. I wrote it in three hours, so don't expect much. I needed a break from all of the post-ep fics out there. This is unbetaed, so please don't flame me for errors.  
  
I hope this makes you smile, JP.  


* * *

"The noise is driving me insane!" Josh covers his ears. He's sitting on the sofa in faded jeans, a white t-shirt and gray socks with his laptop balanced on his legs.

"What noise?" I look at him from the kitchen.

"You don't hear it?" He stands up and walks toward the open window, pointing outside.

I walk into the living room, wiping my hands on a kitchen towel. "You're right. You are insane. What noise?"

He stares at me with disbelief. "The constant chirping, Donna. You don't hear the constant chirping?" He's motioning his hand like a mouth.

"Birds? Are you saying that the birds are driving you nuts?"

"Yes!" He slams the window and walks back to the sofa.

I immediately reopen the window. "If you wouldn't have drunk so much last night, Joshua, you would enjoy the sound of the birds chirping. Besides, it's a beautiful, crisp fall day."

"I thought it was punch." He balances the laptop on his thighs again. "Besides, CJ kept refilling my cup."

"What gave you the impression that CJ was sober last night?" I stand in front of him with my hands on my hips.

Josh looks me up and down, which ordinarily I find flattering, but right now, he looks like he's going to vomit.

"Answer me, Josh!"

"Don't yell," he says, putting his hands back over his ears. When he senses my irritation, he continues. "She told me it was Halloween punch. I didn't know it was spiked."

"You couldn't taste the gallon of rum?"

"No! She kept telling me to swish it around my mouth because of all the fizzing." He moves his hand in a swirling motion.

"The fizzing?"

"Yeah. She kept saying the word 'effervescing.' Try saying it, Donna. It's not easy." Josh grins.

I don't want to smile back at him despite the dimples, so I walk back in to the kitchen. "Leave the birds alone, Josh."

As if he knew he'd almost gotten me, he jumps up and joins me at the kitchen counter. "You weren't exactly the model of sobriety last night." He's bouncing, so either he's feeling better or he's geared up for an argument.

"Yet I'm not the one with the hangover." I grin.

Josh perches on the counter, blocking the set of knives I'm sharpening. Or attempting to sharpen.

"Who was that guy last night?" He pops a pecan into his mouth.

I shrug.

"He was good looking, " Josh says; dimples beginning to form. 

"Yes, he was."

"Did he ask for your number?" He's trying to hide his smirk.

I stop sharpening the knife and look him in the eye. "What if he did?"

It's Josh's turn to shrug. "Did you give it to him?"

"We're not doing this, Josh." I move to the sink to wash my hands.

He jumps off the counter. "Not doing what?"

I find a pencil and jot down some food items on the notepad by the refrigerator. My hair is in my face, so Josh can't see my red cheeks. "You're trying to get me to pay you a compliment, and it's not going to work."

"I'm not trying to get you to compliment me!" He says in a high-pitched voice.

"Then what do you care if that guy asked for my number?" I whip around to face him and nearly bump his nose.

He puts one hand on my back and pulls me closer to him. "I need to know if I need to beat him up or something."

I laugh in Josh's face and escape his grasp.

"What? You don't think I could beat him up?" Josh's posture straightens and he puffs out his chest.

"Josh, he was like 6'5". You wouldn't stand a chance!"

"I could've, you know, bit him." He saunters toward me.

"You would've bit him?"

He puts his hand on my back again. This time I don't walk away, but I keep my hands at my sides.

"Did he ask for your number?" Josh's voice is low.

"Yes," I respond. I can feel the heat in my cheeks.

His other hand goes around my waist, and we're pressed together at our stomachs.

"Did you give it to him?" I could almost hear hesitation in his voice.

"No, Josh, I didn't." I can't resist putting my arms around his neck.

"What did you tell him?" I feel his thumb making small circles on my lower back.

"I told him that I was off the market." My thumbs start tracing the same pattern on Josh's neck.

"Yeah?" He moves in, kissing my ear.

I try not to moan. "Yeah."

"Are you off the market?" he whispers after gently tugging my earlobe with his teeth.

"I knew you were looking for a compliment," I say.

Josh pulls back. "I like hearing it."

"Hearing what?"

He smiles. "That you're off the market." He leans in and kisses me. I'll never tire of the way his lips feel on mine.

Just before things start getting heated, I hear knocking.

"Someone's here."

"Who's here?" Josh asks. His hand is moving slowly up my shirt.

"I can see many things, Joshua, but I can't see who's behind the door." 

He drops his hands and walks away. "Who's there?"

"Toby."

We exchange glances. I straighten my shirt, which happens to actually be one of Josh's white dress shirts.

He opens the door. "Hey, Toby."

Toby steps in with the twins. "I'm late. Here's a bag of baby stuff."

Josh looks confused as Huck raises his arms in the air. Josh picks him up, and Huck starts bouncing in his arms.

"Where the hell are you going?" Josh asks as Toby kisses Molly goodbye.

"We agreed to watch the twins last night, Josh," I say, taking the bag and Molly to the sofa.

"We did?" Huck's now hitting Josh on the head with a stuffed spaceship.

"I'll be back around 7 o'clock. You two behave." I'm not sure if he's talking to us or the kids. He smiles at me. "Thank you."

"Donna?"

I turn to see Huck pulling Josh's hair.

"DONNA!"

"Huckleberry, please don't pull out what little hair he has left." I take the boy from Josh and put him next to Molly on the sofa. She's already turning the pages of one of those soft, plastic children's books.

"What the hell just happened?"

"You got attacked by a two year old." Molly climbs on my lap.

"Not that. This!" He motions his hand toward the twins.

"The man I was talking to last night, Josh, was Toby's brother."

"Toby's brother asked for your number?" He puts his hands on his hips.

"No, you idiot! He didn't ask for my number. I was kidding back there. He asked me if I could watch the twins while he and Toby went to the Redskins game."

Huck is holding his arms in the air for Josh to pick him up again. So he does.

"So the whole 'off the market' thing was a farce?"

Molly points to the spaceship in her book. "Unc!" She yells.

"Not entirely," I say, smiling up at Josh.

He smiles back at me. "Babysitting huh?"

"Yes."

"This should be fun; hungover and all." Josh sits next to me. Huck crawls off his lap and joins Molly on mine.

"Consider it practice," I say.

He grins. "In order to have this, we're gonna have to do more of this." He leans over to kiss me.

"Josh!"

"What? They don't know what we're doing." He attempts to kiss me again.

I stand with the twins precariously dangling from my body. "That's because we're not doing anything. Go get the pumpkins from the car." I look at Molly. "Do you want to carve pumpkins?"

"Pumpin!" Molly yells. Huck crawls down the side of my body until he's on the ground.

"That's what the pumpkins are for?" Josh stands and tries moving away from a running Huck. 

"Did you think I was going to bake pumpkin pie?"

"I thought they were just, you know, decoration."

I walk into the kitchen, talking to Molly about pumpkins and Halloween. Huck follows Josh to the door.

"I've never seen someone want to be around me this much," he says, picking up Huck for a third time.

"Neither have I," I say under my breath. Molly laughs. I wonder sometimes if this little girl understands.

"I heard that!" Josh yells before he leaves the apartment with Huck on his back.

***  
Josh's arms, neck, face and, well his entire body is covered with pumpkin guts. I'm not much better, and the twins are worse. The floor is slippery and dangerous, so I won't let the kids walk around. We're all sitting on the linoleum in the middle of the goo. And we're laughing.

"Yours looks like Leo!" He tells me.

"Yours looks like a clown!"

"That's what I was going for," Josh says, surveying his masterpiece pumpkin. It's nothing but holes. There are varying sizes of circles, but there's no method to the placement of these circles.

"You were trying to carve a clown face?" I ask. 

Huck is crawling on his hands and knees, giggling. Molly is trying to eat the pumpkin guts, so Josh opens her little fist and removes the residue.

"Clowns are fun." He moves closer to me. "Let me see that." He turns my pumpkin toward him, losing his balance in the process. Josh's head falls to my lap. "Ow."

"Serves you right," I say.

"For what?" He tries propping himself up again, but his palm keeps slipping on the floor.

"Making fun of my pumpkin! It doesn't look like Leo."

Molly yells, "Leo!" Huck bangs his hands on the floor, sending strings of pumpkin guts and seeds into the air. I stop the banging, and Huck laughs.

Josh looks at my face. "You're a mess." He pushes my hair behind my ears.

"You're not much better," I say.

"What does raw pumpkin taste like?" he asks, moving closer to me.

"I've never tried it." 

Josh starts rubbing my arm, and despite the goo, it feels really good. He kisses me on the side of my mouth. "Mmm. Not bad."

"Really?" There's not much else I can say, what with his hands and mouth on me.

"Wanna taste?" He licks my neck, then kisses me on the mouth, not giving me a chance to answer.

His mouth tastes sweet. "Pretty good."

"Me or the pumpkin?" he asks, allowing his weight to push me on my back. Josh devours my mouth. I can feel him trying to get leverage with his feet, but they keep slipping on the floor. My hands are tangled in his hair.

"Aahhhh!" Huck screams.

I look up to see Molly dragging Huck by his ankles across the kitchen.

"Molly, what are you doing?" Josh scrambles off me and gathers Huck in his arms. He's not crying, but he's pouting.

Molly claps. "Huck en da froor!"

"Yes, Molly, Huck is on the floor. I admire your strength, but you can't drag your brother like that."

Josh holds Huck over his shoulder while using the butcher block to hoist himself up. "Ok, kids. Time for a bath."

Once Josh is firmly planted, he offers me his hand. "This should be fun."

Instead of taking his hand, I hand him Molly. Both children are screaming with delight and rubbing their gooey hands all over Josh's face. "Do you have any idea what's coming to you, Donnatella?"

I make my way to a standing position. "No, but you can give me a bath later and hopefully I'll find out."

I love making Josh blush.

***

I fill the tub with warm water, and Josh and I do the best we can to remove the pumpkin guts from all of the twins' crevices. Our own hands and arms get cleaned in the process, but Josh's face is still caked with strings of pumpkin and seeds.

I hear someone knocking on the door.

"Toby?" Josh whips his head around. He stands up and jogs to the door.

"My god, what happened in here?" I hear Toby's voice.

"We carved pumpkins," Josh responds. "Donna's looks like Leo."

"Did you use arsenic?" I'm sure he's staring at the explosion in the kitchen.

"Toby's here!" Josh yells. "They're taking a bath."

"Looks like you could use one," Toby tells Josh. He stands in the bathroom doorway. "You too." He gestures toward me.

When the twins see Toby, they begin splashing and yelling. Toby bends down next to me and takes Molly's hand. "Are you hurt?"

"They're not hurt, Toby," Josh says. "They had a blast." He's leaning against the doorframe, smiling.

I consider jumping up and taking him right there, but a hand on my wrist stops me. "Huck, are you ready to go home with daddy?"

The twins start chanting "da da."

"Ok, let's get you dried off." Toby pulls Molly out the tub, and I get Huck.

"I'll do that," Josh says, coming up behind me.

I move out of his way, watching these two men dry off the children. I can't help smiling.

When Toby and the kids leave, Josh plops down on the floor with his back against the door. "That was hell."

"Hell? You seemed pretty happy." I sit next to him.

"Maybe not hell, but it wasn't easy." He puts his arm around me.

"Are you saying that you didn't enjoy it?"

"I might've had a little fun." His dimples make an appearance.

"A little fun?" I ask, placing tiny kisses along his jaw.

"Ok, so it was fun. Very fun, even." He turns his head to kiss me. His mouth still tastes like pumpkin. "Now can we go practice?"

"Practice what, Josh?" I kiss him behind his ear.

"You know." He tilts his head, giving me full access to the side of his neck.

"Tell me." I demand in my best seductive voice.

"Having kids," he whispers.

I look at Josh directly in the eyes and rub his face. He kisses my lips, and a wave of understanding and love passes between us. My eyes tear up as much as his.

"Josh?"

"Hmm?"

"We need to clean the kitchen."

"DONNA!"

"What? Get up." I stand and give him my hand. He pulls himself up.

"You're not very romantic," he says, following me. "I just told you that I wanted to have..."

When he looks up, my shirt is off and my jeans are unbuttoned. "I didn't say we needed to clean the kitchen right away."

It takes two seconds before Josh crosses the floor and slams me against the refrigerator.

"I want that too," I whisper.

He kisses my chest and runs his hands along my stomach. "If we had a Halloween baby, do you think it would be cursed?"

"Josh!"

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Don’t say that our baby would be cursed!"

"I was just thinking." He shrugs.

"We're not having Halloween sex, Joshua."

"Why not?"

"You just said our baby would be cursed!"

"I didn't say it _would_ be cursed. I just asked if you thought it would be."

I sigh. "No, Josh. I don't think if we conceived a child on Halloween that it would be cursed."

"Fine. Take off your clothes." His hands are on his hips.

"JOSH!"

"What?"

"Now who's not romantic?" I fold my arms.

"I was kidding, Donna! Don't you know my kidding face?" He points to his face.

I can't help smiling at not only his expression, but also at the dried pumpkin guts on his cheeks. 

"We're not conceiving children tonight, Joshua."

I didn't expect him to look so disappointed. "No spawns of Satan?" Josh moves closer to me.

"No."

He starts kissing me and running his hands through my hair. "In the future?"

"Kids?"

"Yeah."

"What part of the future?" I ask.

He has my hair in one hand behind my head while he's kissing my exposed shoulder. "There are parts of the future?"

I begin kissing his right ear. "You know, weeks, months, years."

"I was thinking tomorrow," he says. He looks at me and brushes a pumpkin seed off my face.

"Tomorrow is considered the future." I nod.

"But there's no reason we can't practice tonight." We slide to the floor, divesting each other of our clothing.

"Happy Halloween, Joshua." I smile at him before we start practicing.


End file.
